Strictly Business: Bonus by Whimsy

OCTOBER JLC 2000
Having tried several types of
employee bonus programs over
the years, I have developed two strong
opinions about their effectiveness. First,
although bonuses can help solve shortterm
problems, they're a poor longterm
strategy. Second, a bonus plan
based on a mathematical formula represents
an easy way out and too often
rewards the wrong kind of behavior.
Bonuses can be useful motivational
tools. For example, you could use a
bonus to focus short-term attention on
changing a bad habit. Suppose your
new lead carpenter is visiting the lumberyard
two or three times a day, and
you want him to plan better and go
only two or three times a week. He
thinks you've been out of production
too